Death throes

Manmohan Singh is prolonging the agony of a terminally ill UPA-2, says N.V.Subramanian.

By N.V. Subramanian (2 December 2011)

2 December 2011: Are Manmohan Singh and the Congress leadership using each other to stall Parliament as in the FDI-in-retail case? It would appear so. Contrary to some media analysis that the party leadership is trying to distance from the prime minister's adamant insistence on retail FDI, both sides couldn't be more in sync, although they may not succeed in their cynical manipulations.

The Congress leadership has always needed the honest image of Manmohan Singh to cover its corruption and to put the lid on UPA-1 and 2's scams. That tactic may not have always succeeded. It appears now to be a complete failure. No one can say with any honesty that Manmohan Singh heads a clean government.
And yet, without fail, whenever the government and Congress leadership have been confronted with the scams, they have reflexively fallen back on Manmohan Singh's clean image. The question implied in this is, "Can you doubt a government whose prime minister is Manmohan Singh?"
But the question has been so often and so crudely hinted at that it has lost its meaning and sanctity. Public opinion has veered to the understanding that the PM may be honest but he runs a very unclean government. But what is in it for Manmohan Singh?
He gets to remain PM. That has been his life's ambition and he won't let go easily. You hear stories that his family is unhappy at the bad name he is getting. There are serious concerns about his health. But none of that is apparent in Manmohan Singh's craving for prime-ministership.
In return for that, he is willing for anything. He has no qualms about being spoken off as a stop-gap PM for Rahul Gandhi. He has no say in cabinet decisions. Ministers owe their jobs and, therefore, their loyalty to Sonia Gandhi. As long as Manmohan Singh gets to occupy 5 and 7 Race Course Road, anything goes.
Of course the man is adamant. He can become adamant about the most darnedest thing. He was unyielding on the Indo-US nuclear deal. He forced the Congress leadership to jettison the Left allies and purchase a corrupt confidence-vote victory whose backlash is now being felt. For his ambitions and for his adamancy, Manmohan Singh can go to any length.
The Congress leadership has now discovered a use for Manmohan Singh's adamancy, and the prime minister is playing along. The Congress needed to stall the winter session of Parliament because of the BJP's embarrassing boycott of P.Chidambaram over 2G, the Lok Pal bill, and the black money and corruption scandals. It tried to divide the opposition and failed. Then it hit upon FDI in retail.
It is this writer's analysis that the Congress leadership picked on retail FDI knowing it would be opposed and that the PM's obstinacy would stall Parliament. There is reason to believe that sections of government leaked against FDI in retail to the opposition so that Parliament would be disrupted. On the other hand, it was understood by the party leadership that the PM would dig his heels in on something he has always favoured.
So far, the controversy has played to script. The focus has shifted away from the Union home minister's alleged involvement in the 2G scam. Whilst Anna Hazare wanted the PM, the CBI and the lower bureaucracy under the Lok Pal, the parliamentary standing committee recommendations have excluded them. There is no gain in this for the Congress. But the party leadership is desperate. It is fighting a day-to-day battle to remain in power.
Can it succeed? Obviously not. Manmohan Singh and the Congress leadership have no credibility left. People doubt the intentions of the government and the principal ruling party. The party was crushed in Bihar and has lost every consequential election since. What you are witnessing is a Congress party in its death throes, with the good doctor prolonging the agony.
N.V.Subramanian is Editor, www.NewsInsight.net, and writes internationally on strategic affairs. He has authored two novels, University of Love (Writers Workshop, Calcutta) and Courtesan of Storms (Har-Anand, Delhi). Email: envysub@gmail.com.

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